UK terror suspects lose extradition battle

Ashfaq Ahmad, the father of Babar Ahmad, protesting outside court during his son's extradition hearing. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Two terrorist suspects today lost their high court battle to avoid extradition to the United States.

Lawyers for Haroon Rashid Aswat and Babar Ahmad argued that, despite US assurances to the contrary, there was "a real risk" that the men would be mistreated, or tried and sentenced as enemy combatants if sent to America.

Dismissing their appeal, Lord Justice Laws, sitting in London with Mr Justice Walker, said the allegation that the US might violate undertakings given to the UK "would require proof of a quality entirely lacking here".

Mr Ahmad, a computer expert from Tooting, south London, is accused of running websites inciting murder and urging Muslims to fight a holy war. The sites allegedly also aimed to raise money for the Taliban and Chechen rebels.

Mr Aswat, who grew up in West Yorkshire and was arrested in Africa, faces trial on charges of plotting to set up a "jihad training camp" in Bly, Oregon, to train fighters for war in Afghanistan. He has been fighting extradition to the US since being arrested in Zambia and held in the UK.

The judges said they would take time to consider whether both men should be given permission to take their case to the House of Lords, the highest court in the UK, for a final ruling. They will announce their decision at a later date.

Mr Fitzgerald argued that the case raised human rights issues of public importance which should go before the law lords.

Afterwards, Ashfaq Ahmad, the father of 32-year-old Babar, said: "We are very disappointed with the high court verdict today.

"We are hopeful that the high court will certify that a point of law of public importance on military detention and rendition has been raised and recommend this matter should go to the House of Lords."

At a hearing in July, Edward Fitzgerald QC, appearing for both men, asked two senior judges to halt extradition, arguing there was a danger that their human rights would be abused, despite assurances from the US government.

Mr Fitzgerald said the men were in danger of being indefinitely detained at Guantánamo Bay under a military order applying to foreign citizens, or tried and sentenced by a military commission as enemy combatants in what would amount to "a flagrant denial of justice" and European human rights laws. He said they also faced the risk of extraordinary rendition - the process of removing terrorist suspects to third countries for interrogation - and being held in solitary confinement.

Washington has promised that the two British men will not be sent to Guantánamo Bay or turned over to a third country. But Mr Fitzgerald told the judges they should not rely on American assurances that the men would be treated fairly.

Mr Ahmad is a cousin of Mohammed Noor Khan, described by the pressure group Human Rights Watch as a "ghost detainee". He is believed to be in joint US-Pakistan custody, with no access to legal counsel. Mr Khan was arrested in Pakistan in 2004 and accused of sending messages for Osama bin Laden. Mr Khan "has simply disappeared", according to the two men's lawyers.

Mr Ahmad argues that support for Chechen separatists between 1997 and 2000 and for the Taliban does not constitute supporting terrorism. According to his campaign website, he was "deeply affected and saddened" by the September 11 2001 attacks, in which a female relative of his died in the World Trade Centre.

The case against Mr Aswat is based on the evidence of James Ujaama, an American jailed for assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan, whose sentence was reduced in return for his cooperation as a witness.